This is kind of a continuation of yesterday's post. Allow one observation to set the context. When we left the hotel this morning, we noticed a long line of cars lined up at a gas station. These folks had heard that a truck bringing gas was on its way and there would be some petrol available for purchase. Other nearby gas stations were roped off and closed because they have nothing to sell. Our driver told us some workers with paid with petrol vouchers and would barter them with other folks for things that they needed. However, if there was no gas to purchase this bartering option would not work.
Services close when there is no way to meet a need. The toilets at one border crossing were not available because they were modern toilets and there was no water for them to function.
This is what I would describe as a subsistence existence. No money in the banks. No gas at the gas stations. No job for 80% of the population. Life is a daily struggle. Try to find some U.S. currency or some South African rand so you can meet basic needs. Barter using what you can make or scrounge to get by.
This situation can be contrasted with high-end hotels serving the tourists coming from elsewhere in the world. The tourist industry is nearly the only thing that generates revenue in an area with natural mining resources and agricultural. Land taken from whites, but held by government officials without being given out to be cultivated. Local money has no actual value so the dollars and RANd from tourists are needed so a kind of monetary system is available at all.
Images from hotel
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